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Though the chances were minute, federal non-binding arbitration had to be attempted. Now that it has been eliminated, the NHL and its Players Association can get back to mutual assured destruction.

As in the previous two, NHL Lockout III negotiations went nowhere with federal mediation. The league and the Players Association ended two days of meetings with mediators yesterday, having made no progress. No further arbitration sessions are scheduled.

Instead, the league yesterday proposed that a group of owners and a group of players meet to discuss the issues without the officers of the NHL, Gary Bettman and Bill Daly, nor the union heads, Donald and Steve Fehr.

The league brass’ suggestion did not include authorization for the select owners in the talks to negotiate a Collective Bargaining Agreement, nor give them authority to do so by a simple majority vote, something that wouldn’t be enough to override a Bettman “veto”.

“[We] haven’t discussed those specifics with [the] PA,” NHL deputy commissioner Daly wrote in an email. “[We are] not prepared to debate them publicly.1”

The standoff went nowhere with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service meetings in Woodbridge, N.J. The sides last met in regular session on Nov. 21, when the league rejected the union’s plan to move incrementally to the 50-50 revenue split the NHL is demanding.

“Today, we concluded two days of mediation with FMCS mediators and representatives of the NHL Players’ Association. After spending several hours with both sides over two days, the presiding mediators concluded that the parties remained far apart, and that no progress toward a resolution could be made through further mediation at this point in time,” Daly said in a statement. “We are disappointed that the mediation process was not successful.”

Donald Fehr suggested that mediation might be tried again.

“Today, players and NHLPA staff, along with representatives of the league, concluded a second day of mediation under the auspices of the FMCS,” Fehr said in a statement. “This afternoon, the mediators informed the parties that they did not think it was productive to continue the discussions further today.

“The mediators indicated that they would stay in contact with the league and the NHLPA, and would call the parties back together when they thought the time was right.”